Angry QM2 passengers stage sit-in

The captain of the world's largest ocean liner is 'doing his best' to resolve a dispute with passengers over a change in itinerary, the operator said today.

A number of passengers on board the Queen Mary 2 have threatened a sit-in after the ship was forced to miss three stops on route from Florida to Rio de Janeiro following damage to a propulsion motor.

Although she still has three of her motors working, the ship can only travel at normal speed and cannot make up for lost time, a spokesman for operator Cunard said.

He added that the passengers who were leaving the ship in Rio - many of whom boarded in the US - had been offered a 50 per cent refund.

But some of the holidaymakers are unhappy with the offer and have threatened to stay on the ship at Rio instead of disembarking.

The missed stops - in Barbados, St Kitts and Salvador, Brazil - mean the ship can dock, as planned, in Rio late on Thursday night. That means the 1,000 passengers due to get on board in Rio can go ahead as planned, the spokesman said.

He added: 'Because of the lateness of leaving Fort Lauderdale and the necessity of arriving at Rio to pick up these passengers, they had to miss out ports in order to get there on time.

'The captain is meeting with the passengers by request and he is doing his best to resolve this.

'Most people are quite happy with the compensation offer but a relatively small group are not and they have had a number of meetings with the captain.

'One of the things they have referred to is not leaving their cabins when they get to Rio.'

He said that it was too early to tell what Cunard would do if the passengers refused to leave the ship at Rio when she arrives.

Meetings with the captain, Commodore Ronald Warwick, would continue, he added.

About 2,500 passengers are on board the ship, which is on a 38-day trip around South America. The ship is scheduled to complete its full journey in Los Angeles on February 22.

Passenger Alan Berg told the BBC News website that many people on the ship were extremely unhappy and demanding full refunds.

Mr Berg, 63, from Manchester, said: 'We have been lied to and misled.

'It is not in fact a cruise now but rather a voyage by sea to Rio. Many guests are on once-in-a-lifetime holidays and I have seen several in tears.'